The Artwork of a Safely Guarded Secret

When we think of bugs, we often think of the pests; however, there are some bugs that are little masterminds of stunning and mysterious artwork. The silkworm is one of those very special bugs. The silkworm creates something so beautiful, that this caterpillar was once a closely guarded secret of the Chinese for 3,000 years. So valuable in fact, anyone revealing the secret of the silkworm would be put to death!

The silkworm process is one of great patiences. Silk famers begin the process by placing special paper out for silkworm moths to lay their eggs. Once the 300-500 eggs have been laid, the farmer places them in an incubator for 20 days. When they hatch, the silkworms are fed an immense amount of  fresh mulberry leaves for up to five weeks. When it is time, the caterpillar begins to manufacture a fluid, when the fluid hits the air it turns to silk threads which the caterpillar winds into a cocoon. After three days the farmer takes the cocoons and places them in an oven, killing the worm and preparing the silk to be unraveled.

It takes approximately 2,000 silkworm cocoons to produce one pound of silk—so you can understand why it is a long, tedious process! Here is a video demonstrating the cocoon unraveling.

For more information, and cool bug facts visit the Extermatrim Exterminating website.

More »